Chapter 57
As the artillery golem that emerged from the smoke came up beside me, the nine expedition members briefly recoiled and edged away.
The explosion that had just blown the beasts apart must have been burned deep into their minds.
"It's okay."
When I smiled and patted the golem's sturdy steel shell, the tension among them seemed to ease a little at last.
"All right, let's hurry."
We left the alley under the escort of the golem and the drones and headed for the tracks where the train was waiting.
Perhaps because we had just blown so many beasts away with that explosion, there definitely seemed to be fewer monsters on the street.
...No way, is that...
I only read about it in the Gallery, but seeing it in person—
This is pretty extreme...?
Ugh.
As soon as we arrived, the survivors let out strange exclamations at the train's menacing appearance.
Some of them even pulled phones out of their pockets and started snapping pictures.
'Quite popular, huh.'
I chuckled inwardly and opened the door to the passenger compartment of Car 3.
Let's get on first and catch our breath.
At my words, the survivors who had been standing around walked over to Car 3.
Before loading them up, I stood by the door and quickly counted the heads in my mind.
I had to make sure no one had been left behind.
One, two, three, four... eight, nine.
And then, ten.
"Huh?"
The moment the tenth person was counted, I hurriedly turned my head and scanned the group again.
There had definitely been nine. And yet there were ten people standing before my eyes.
And that last one was dressed and built in a way that was completely unlike the survivors.
Light gear layered with gauzy cloth and thin leather.
Skin far too white.
And pointed ears.
"An elf...!"
"...An elf, all of a sudden?"
"I-it's real! It's behind us!"
The very elf that had just filled the recon drone's screen moments ago had, at some point, naturally slipped into our party and was now walking with us.
A silence fell.
All nine survivors, along with me, stared blankly at the elf.
Everyone was probably thinking the same thing.
'It's a real elf.'
'Why is it here...?'
'It's really beautiful.'
While we stood there dazed, the elf was also staring at us intently with curious eyes.
Then, as if something had caught its eye, it strode briskly over to one person.
It was the woman with flashy tattoos covering her neck and wrists.
The elf walked right up to her nose, extended a slender finger, and began rubbing over the black tattoo on her wrist.
It was a very serious, innocent touch, as if it were trying to wipe away some black stain on her skin.
...
...
But no matter how much it rubbed, the tattoo wouldn't come off, and the elf blinked in wonder, tilting its head.
At that, the tattooed woman let out a dry laugh.
"It won't come off, you know..."
Whether it understood her or not, the elf flashed her a grin in return.
Then it took from inside its clothes a large feather that looked like it had come from the giant bird monster we caught on the rooftop earlier, and casually handed it to the tattooed woman.
Did it win her over?
Then, without lingering any longer, it spun around and lightly sprang away.
'...Its actions are impossible to predict...'
Taat-!
Leaping as lightly as if gravity didn't exist, the elf kicked off the wall of a building and vanished from sight in an instant.
I leaned out and followed the direction she had gone.
On the rooftop of a certain commercial building at the end of my gaze,
there, I could see a little treehouse-like hut woven intricately from leaves and thick branches.
'She made something like that in such a short time?'
Instead of entering a building, she had made her own little dwelling right in the middle of the rooftop.
Maybe she was planning to make that her base?
"This really is something else..."
"Ah, I should've taken a picture..."
"She doesn't seem to hate humans..."
"Yeah. I thought she'd give off the vibe of hating humans."
"In any case, the elf didn't seem to have any intention of attacking us."
I looked back at the tattooed woman holding the feather and the people still standing there with their mouths agape, and told them to get inside Car 3 now.
The elf might be friendly, but beast monsters hate us.
"Everyone, please rest for now."
The nine of them finally seemed to relax, sinking into the passenger seats and letting out long, deep sighs.
Even so, the mood in Car 3's passenger compartment was strangely lively.
They'd escaped danger and even seen the elf they'd wanted to see so badly from fairly close up.
And the biggest reason seemed to be that the elf actually had the looks they'd hoped for.
"Ah, if I'd gotten an elf photo, that would've been a jackpot..."
"Looks like someone already took one somewhere else and uploaded it. It's marked as completed, though?"
"Ah..."
"...I wanted to take an elf photo no matter what the reward was..."
At someone's disappointed sigh, everyone nodded.
That disappointment didn't last long, and soon everyone fell into practical worries.
"What do we do?"
Apparently, everyone gathered here was a survivor living in this area.
They weren't part of any safe zone, and were all surviving around here on their own. They'd heard there was an elf, and since it was nearby, they came without much thought—
This Dungeon Break had raised the danger level around here a lot.
"...How about we take this chance to make a proper safe zone around here ourselves?"
"A safe zone... ourselves...?"
"Living alone is hard. Seeing a Dungeon Break with my own eyes made me think that even more..."
"Then..."
One survivor gathered the courage to speak, and everyone else, though surprised, seemed to think it wasn't a bad idea.
This area had gotten dangerous, and if Dungeon Breaks kept happening like this, it would be hard to survive alone.
Clearing dungeons alone was beyond them, too.
I said that if that were the case, I could take them to another safe zone as well, but—
"I'm waiting for someone who might come back..."
"It's a little hard for me to leave this area..."
"I can trust the person I met in the Gallery, but I can't trust the people in the safe zone..."
"I want to be able to see the elf from afar every now and then..."
The last remark aside, it seemed like they all had reasons and didn't want to move far away from here.
In the end, it seemed they had decided to make a safe zone in this area.
Even the tattooed woman unexpectedly agreed to join readily.
"I don't know whether the elf will keep being kind to us... but how about making a safe zone a little farther away, not too close and not too far?"
"Later on, we can bring in other Gallery users too..."
"Our final goal is to interact with the elf...!"
At that last remark, a few people coughed awkwardly and nodded.
But soon their expressions turned troubled.
The photo sale post had been completed, but on the Gallery trade board there were still several bold posts asking for the elf to be hunted or brought back as a slave.
"Isn't there any way we can protect it? What if..."
"...Protect the elf..."
"Hiss... I don't think we need to worry that much..."
The worried voices kept coming, but honestly, from my point of view after seeing the giant bird's forehead pierced in one blow back on the rooftop earlier, the one who needed worrying about wasn't the elf but the others who'd come after her.
Even after what I said, they still didn't seem convinced.
Were they always this affectionate?
When I'd seen them in the Gallery—
"This won't do. I should go help at her side even now—"
"No, I..."
'They're so obvious. Way too obvious.'
As expected, the power of looks is terrifying.
There was no doubt the elf's appearance was stirring their protective instincts.
They were all joking and grinning, but I saw a flash of sincerity in their eyes for a moment.
And I... could relate a little.
"Then would it be okay if I took you as far as the nearby station?"
"Yes, we'd appreciate that."
The train arrived at the nearby station in no time, and the nine of them got off after thanking me.
Now those people would go on to build a safe zone here.
Since it's not far, I might run into the elf again.
Leaving them behind, I returned to Car 1 and launched another recon drone.
"I might not be able to protect her, but I should at least keep watch."
The recon drone flew up silently and began filming around the rooftop where the elf had settled.
It was to check the live camera feed for any attackers that might be there.
And, as a bonus, to see how the nine were building their safe zone.
I checked the coordinates the Constellation had given me in one corner of the cab.
Fortunately, the place wasn't too far from here.
***
When I reached the coordinates the Constellation had marked, a liquor store that had apparently escaped the looters' reach stood there untouched.
"...Bigger than I thought."
The storefront looked small, but the interior was deep.
The moment I went inside with the drones and golem in tow, shelves packed full of liquor came into view.
As I looked over the bottles one by one, a message appeared before my eyes.
[The God of Wine and Music excitedly tells you to pack up the wines.]
"...Don't tell me you gave me these coordinates so I'd pick this stuff up?"
Judging by the name, it seemed to be the same Constellation that had given me the coordinates.
As I stared at the liquor with a dumbfounded expression, another Constellation chimed in.
[Hammer Warrior huffs and stomps the floor.]
[Hammer Warrior shouts for you to hurry up and pack the vodka and the stronger liquor.]
"No, why is this Constellation suddenly here too... yes, yes...."
Now there were two booze lovers.
I checked the liquors and told the drones to pack them up.
The store was bigger than I expected, so I didn't think we'd be able to take it all at once.
I was thinking we'd need to make a round trip once or twice, but the moment I started packing the liquor, the two Constellations began sending messages right away.
Whenever I picked up a few bottles of fine wine or champagne, Hammer Warrior immediately complained.
[Hammer Warrior complains that he'd rather drink cabbage juice than something like that.]
On the other hand, when I put liquor over 50 proof or vodka into a box and had the golem carry it, Wine and Music sent a message this time.
[The God of Wine and Music shakes its head, saying such barbaric high-proof booze isn't true liquor.]
...
Ignoring the flood of messages, I silently cleared out the shelves.
Anyway, after making me haul all this, they'd better not try to charge me a fortune.
I even thought about mixing together the liquors each of them liked right in front of the two Constellations.
...What would their reaction be?
That was when, after sweeping up bottles for quite a while, I reached the back of the corner counter.
There was a strange book lying beside the dusty register.
It looked like an old book, but only this one didn't have dust on it, giving it a strange sense of incongruity.
[The God of Wine and Music clears its throat.]
[It says that the book will help you get along with the nonhuman races you met earlier.]
"A book for getting along with nonhuman races...?"
I picked up the book with a puzzled expression.
Could it be a skill book with the traits of nonhuman races written in it, or some kind of translation skill book?
For now, I took the book and had the drones gather up the rest of the liquor.